Boring, complex and important: a recipe for the web's dire future

Fetish: LaFerrari

This article was taken from the August 2013 issue of Wired magazine. Be the first to read Wired's articles in print before they're posted online, and get your hands on loads of additional content by subscribing online.

Hybrid supercar:LaFerrari

ADVERTISEMENT

Despite the iconic red paint-job, the LaFerrari is a green machine. Ferrari's first hybrid has the highest power output of any of the manufacturer's cars -- but has cut fuel consumption by 40 percent. A 6.3-litre V12 engine is centrally mounted for a 41/59 <span class="s3">percent front/rear weight distribution. But when this engine's 789hp mixes with an extra 163hp from the electric motor, the result is a bracing 350kph top speed.

The two-door berlinetta LaFerrari is the first Ferrari to be completely designed in-house, not receiving any input from car-designer Pininfarina, with which it has been working since 1951. The handmade carbon-fibre monocoque chassis was developed by Ferrari's F1 technical director Rory Byrne. Ferrari claims the car has 27 percent more torsional rigidity and 22 percent more beam stiffness than its Enzo. It will build only 499 LaFerraris.

READ NEXT

Gear WIRED loves: Hasselblad's £22,000 H6D-100C

ByKathryn Nave

Wilson Hennessy

Fast and light

Tipping the scales at a mere 1,255kg, the LaFerrari is capable of reaching 100kph within three seconds and 300kph in less than 15. It laps the manufacturer's Fiorano test track in under 1 minute 19 seconds -- that's five seconds faster than the €900,000 (£770,000) Ferrari Enzo it replaces. The hybrid employs a pair of electric motors -- one to power the wheels, another for accessories. A 60kg lithium-ion battery pack collects energy from the four sets of Brembo carbon-ceramic brakes.